Clifford T. McAvoy

McAvoy in 1957

Clifford Thomas McAvoy (October 30, 1904 - August 9, 1957) was an American politician and activist with the American Labor Party.

Biography

McAvoy was born in New York, the son of John V. McAvoy, a Justice on the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, and Marian Newcomb. ^[1] McAvoy's family was influential in New York politics. His grandfather Thomas McAvoy was an ally of Tammany Hall head Charles F. Murphy ^[2] and the brother of Francis S. McAvoy. ^[3] As a child, McAvoy studied violin with the conductor Alexander Bloch. ^[4] He was involved with the American Labor Party soon after its founding in 1936. Fiorello La Guardia unsuccessfully attempted to convince the party to nominate McAvoy as its candidate to succeed Baruch Vladeck in 1938. ^[5] McAvoy never joined the Communist Party. ^[6] Nevertheless, he resigned from his position as Deputy Welfare Commissioner in 1941, following accusations of Communist sympathies. ^[7] He then served as the Washington representative for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. ^[8] He resigned from this position in 1948 in order to support Henry Wallace's campaign, arguing that Truman had "reversed the progressive foreign and domestic policies of FDR". ^[9]

In 1951, McAvoy was the American Labor Party's candidate for city council president, and received 6.1% of the vote. ^[10] In 1953 he was the ALP's candidate for mayor of New York and received only 54,000 votes. ^[11] Following McAvoy's unsuccessful electoral performance, Vito Marcantonio resigned from the ALP. ^[12] In the 1956 election, McAvoy supported the Socialist Workers Party presidential candidates Farrell Dobbs and Myra Tanner Weiss. ^[13] McAvoy was the chairman of the Council for Pan-American Democracy. ^[14] He died of nephritis on August 9, 1957. ^[15]

Personal life

He married Frances Boardman Chisholm in 1930. They divorced in 1949. ^[16] He later married Susan B. Anthony II. ^[17] His third marriage was to Muriel Gravelle, a member of the Progressive Party in New Hampshire. ^[18]

References

1. "Justice John V. McAvoy of Appellate Division". Daily News. April 13, 1937. p. 162.
2. "Welfare Official Denies Link to Communists". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. March 6, 1941. p. 3.
3. "High Requiem Mass Held for Francis S. McAvoy". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. August 9, 1926. p. 3.
4. "New York City". The Violinist. XXI (6): 240.
5. "American Labor Party Unable to Select". The Brooklyn Citizen. November 22, 1938. p. 4.
6. Stepan-Norris, Judith; Zeitlin, Maurice (1991). "'Red' Unions and 'Bourgeois' Contracts?". American Journal of Sociology. 96 (5): 1187. JSTOR   2781339 – via JSTOR.
7. "McAvoy Ousted as Hodson Aide". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. June 17, 1941. p. 1.
8. Filippelli, Ronald L.; MacColloch, Mark D. (1995). Cold war in the working class: the rise and decline of the United Electrical Workers. SUNY series in American labour history. Albany, N.Y: State University of New York Press. ISBN   978-0-7914-2182-6.
9. "CIO Representative Resigns from Post to Support Wallace". The Gazette and Daily. March 18, 1948. p. 2.
10. Ness, Immanuel; Ciment, James, eds. (2000). The Encyclopedia of Third Parties in America. Sharpe Reference. p. 142.
11. Schaffer, Alan (1966). Vito Marcantonio, radical in Congress. Syracuse University Press. p. 209.
12. Meyer, Gerald (1989). Vito Marcantonio: Radical politician, 1902-1954. State University of New York Press. p. 83. ISBN   0791400824.
13. Le Blanc, Paul (2019). U.S. Trotskyism 1928-1965. Part III: Resurgence. Brill. p. 137. ISBN   978-90-04-38928-1.
14. Gosse, Van (1993). Where the boys are: Cuba, Cold War America and the making of a New Left. Haymarket series. London: Verso. ISBN   978-0-86091-690-1.
15. "Clifford McAvoy Dies at 52". The American Socialist: 5. September 1957.
16. Dixon, George Conard (1955). The John Dixon Family. p. 59.
17. Weigand, Kate (2002). Red Feminism: American Communism and the Making of Women's Liberation. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 52. ISBN   9780801871115.
18. "National Guardian Eulogizes McAvoy" (PDF). The Militant. August 19, 1957. p. 3.